Owners Manual
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Version 0.967 (Last Updated 04.17.2018)
Notes:
(1) This draft Owner’s Manual is a work in progress and describes the design and structure of Metronome, a
new type of cryptocurrency. Metronome and its underlying technology is still in development and this
Owner’s Manual will be updated throughout this process to reflect changes throughout the development
cycle. While every measure has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the material, Metronome authors and
their partners do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the material found in this Owner’s Manual.
(2) Potential purchasers of Metronome and participants in the Metronome ecosystem should read this
Owner’s Manual, including the acknowledgements and disclaimers in Appendix [A], and should carefully
consider any risks before making a purchase.
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Table of contents
Table of contents 3
List of Tables and Figures 4
Motivations 5
Taking cryptocurrency to the next level… literally 7
Executive Summary 8
Background 10
Blockchain technology 10
Cryptocurrency 10
Descending price auctions 11
Introducing Metronome 12
How Metronome Works 12
Cross-Blockchain Portability 15
Distributed, voluntary consensus governance 15
Cryptocurrency market context to date 17
The landscape 17
Metronome contracts and technical aspects 22
Metronome Proceeds and Autonomous Converter Contracts 22
Token Supply Economics 26
Theory 26
Supply schedule 26
Metronome Core 27
Token API 27
Auction API 30
Metronome Proceeds Contract 31
Proceeds Contract API 31
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Metronome Autonomous Converter Contract 32
Autonomous Converter Contract API 32
TokenLocker 33
TokenLocker API 33
TokenPorter 33
TokenPorter API 33
Glossary of Contract Terms 35
APPENDIX A 36
List of Tables and Figures
Figure 1: USD and BTC monetary base comparison 11
Figure 2: The flow of and interaction between Metronome contracts 12
Figure 3: Demonstration of cross-blockchain portability 15
Figure 4: Popular cryptocurrency mintage 17
Figure 5: Comparison of Bitcoin and Metronome mintage and supply 18
Figure 6: Comparison between ZEC and MTN author’s retention 19
Table 1: Comparison of important attributes between today’s cryptocurrencies 20
Figure 7: How the Autonomous Converter Contract works 23
Table 2: Supply Schedule 26
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Motivations
In the development of Metronome, the Metronome authors aspire to take the lessons learned from previous
cryptocurrencies and build one whose sole purpose is to be a long-term monetary system. With this in mind,
the Metronome authors saw a novel opportunity in:
●Economically engineering something to last
●Bootstrapping decentralized financial products
●Ensuring equal access to token distribution
●Ensuring autonomous, self-governing contracts
●Taking cryptocurrency to the next level... literally
Economically engineering something to last
Some cryptocurrencies' mintage is either static or goes to zero over time – like Bitcoin ,and Litecoin – raising
1 2 3
questions with economists about their long term viability. , , Other cryptocurrencies’ token supply is
4 5
hand-stitched together in pre-ICO deals that award certain parties a vast amount of supply, resulting in those
parties controlling the majority of tokens. Some cryptocurrencies sell out to certain parties in a pre-sale or
private sale, leaving very little to the general public. Metronome attempts to fix those problems with daily
auctions that provide an on-going token supply mintage, ad infinitum. An on-going token supply mintage is
theorized to provide sustainability versus other cryptocurrencies whose mintage either is or goes to zero. ,
6 7
The Metronome team expects that this will also encourage MTN holders to use the many payment features of
Metronome. Utilizing those use cases, actually using it as a currency, may help solidify its endurance. The
Metronome team also believes that an ongoing mintage also dilutes any potential disproportionate amounts
purchased at a given time. Through Metronome, the team believes it is engineering something that is
built-to-last. Longevity is Metronome’s main goal.
Bootstrapping decentralized financial products
Bootstrapping decentralized systems into self-sustainability is a new thing, more art than science. Metronome
is attempting to break new ground here. All proceeds from Metronome’s auctions are sent to two separate
smart contracts, which are designed –among other things– to provide liquidity to MTN owners that may want
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to sell.
9
1 https://medium.com/@jgarzik/bitcoin-is-being-hot-wired-for-settlement-a5beb1df223a
2 https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
3 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=47417.0
4 https://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/04/money
5 https://econjwatch.org/file_download/139/2007-01-hummel-com.pdf?mimetype=pdf
6 https://econjwatch.org/file_download/139/2007-01-hummel-com.pdf?mimetype=pdf
7 Tsiang, S.C., Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, I(1969), pp. 266–80 "A Critical Note on the Optimum Supply
of Money"
8 https://medium.com/@MetronomeToken/on-metronome-author-retention-and-contract-behavior-73dad8f16494
9 https://medium.com/@MetronomeToken/proceeds-for-the-community-not-the-authors-d41874d4d41f
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By having all auction proceeds stay within the Metronome ecosystem, the Metronome team anticipates that it
will thrive. Further, the team expects that others will study Metronome’s model for their projects and
products.
Ensuring equal access to token distribution
Cryptocurrency should be more egalitarian. More than just the 1% should have access to the world's next
cryptocurrency. Distributing access to the cryptocurrency widely to the public reduces the number of
stakeholders with large percentage stakes compared to the entire Metronome economy.
The descending price auction aims to distribute the token at a price purchasers deem fair. Other ICOs' token
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distribution is hand-engineered and often most is gone in pre-sales and private sales before the public ever
gets access.
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Metronome employs a descending price auction for both its Initial Supply Auction and Daily Supply Lots, with
public access to all auction opportunities. There is no presale, whitelist, or any bonus. Everyone participating
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in any Metronome auction will need to operate within the same rules as everyone else: purchase at a given
price or wait for the price to descend. No one is excluded from or privileged in these public auctions.
13
The Metronome team believes conducting the Initial Supply Auction this way may discourage whales and
other large players within the space from dominating the supply of MTN –as access to disproportionate
amounts of MTN would potentially require purchasing above discovered market price–, and the team believes
it will encourage a fairer distribution among the community of purchasers. Metronome is not looking for a
quick pop for short term speculators, rather, every aspect of the initial supply auction attempts to provide
fairer access to and fairer distribution of MTN.
Autonomous, self-governing contracts
Humans are fallible. Software and math are more predictable decades and further into the future. An
algorithm is apolitical, and will not hyper-inflate or manipulate the currency at the discretion of humans. With
autonomous, self-governing contracts there are no humans to affect the value of cryptocurrency at the
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human’s discretion. To this end, the Metronome smart contracts’ ownership functions will be locked down,
such that following launch no one can take ownership of them. Metronome will be fully autonomous.
Metronome was engineered to be self-adjusting and self-governing. To that end, Metronome’s contracts are
fully autonomous and we believe will behave predictably, without intervention of the authors.
10 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3982/TE502/pdf
11
http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Etherparty-Pre-sale-Sells-Out-Receives-Over-25MPublic-ICO-sale-
launches-Oct-1-1002374859
12 https://medium.com/@MetronomeToken/what-is-a-descending-price-auction-8c0770bb6a71
13 https://medium.com/@MetronomeToken/fairness-as-a-first-order-variable-8012a5c22ed1
14 https://medium.com/@MetronomeToken/self-governance-as-a-design-goal-fc06afd61dd5
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Taking cryptocurrency to the next level… literally
Every other cryptocurrency is tied to one blockchain network. LTC is only recorded on the Litecoin blockchain.
BTC is only recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. There are risks in being tied to just one railroad: management
discord, supply uncertainty, etc. The market does not know that cross-blockchain are even possible, much
less a need.
Metronome is the first cryptocurrency that is not tied to one blockchain forevermore. It is the first
cryptocurrency that has the potential to be secured by the best blockchain networks, without permanent
commitment to any one blockchain. This is a completely new concept, even in the innovative cryptocurrency
space.
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Executive Summary
Metronome (“Metronome” or “MTN”) is a new cryptocurrency, engineered for institutional-level endurance.
Metronome incorporates lessons learned from other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum and is
designed to be used for the next 100 years and beyond.
Metronome will be launched to the public with equal opportunity for access. Metronome will have zero
founder privileges after launch and features a highly-predictable and reliable token supply.
The Metronome token supply:
●10,000,000 initial MTN supply
○8,000,000 distributed via public descending price auction, as described in more detail below
○2,000,000 distributed to founders as founder retention (20%)
■Minted to special TokenLocker contract (see API section)
●25% available for use by authors at end of Initial Supply Auction
●The remaining 75% becomes available in 12 equal amounts over 12 calendar
quarters
●Only Metronome Authors can withdraw from their TokenLocker contract, and
only at the specific times above
●New MTN minted daily
○Daily minted MTN distributed via public descending price auction
○Daily minted volume at (i) 2,880 MTN per day, or (ii) an annual rate equal to 2.0000% of the
then-outstanding MTN supply per year
The three core design principles of Metronome are self-governance, reliability, and portability. They make
Metronome unique and enduring.
●Self-Governance
○No undue founder influence after launch – autonomously governed by smart contracts
○Resistant to individual or community discord, disagreement or misinterpretation
○Public access to all sale opportunities
○100% on-chain, decentralized, auditable
○Pricing via descending price auction
●Reliability
○Predictable token supply
○New MTN minted daily ad infinitum, at the greater of (i) 2,880 MTN per day, or (ii) an annual
rate equal to 2.0000% of the then-outstanding MTN supply per year
○Stable, predictable minting of new token supply ad infinitum
○Architected for predictable pricing
●Portability
○Cross-blockchain portability allows provable export to, and import from, different contracts or
different chains
■Further protects the cryptocurrency from governance issues and instability
○Community development of new chain export and import functionalities
○Enables a migration path to future blockchains as the ledger technology platform matures
●Additional features
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○Initial payments expected to be settled in 15 to 30 seconds – Settlement times are based on
underlying blockchain
○Mass pay – allowing multiple payments to be sent in one batch
○Subscriptions – allowing for recurring payments between users
○ERC20- and ERC827-compliant
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■The ERC827 extension is the latest standard with enhanced decentralization transfer
and security features
In this document, we propose Metronome as a new cryptocurrency that uniquely satisfies the above criteria
as the world’s first self-governing, cross-blockchain cryptocurrency. We anticipate that the cryptocurrency and
other token communities will devise their own uses for it.
To that end, and in the interest of self-governance, the Metronome authors will have no privileged interest in
the Metronome token after the initial auction. Metronome will use a descending price auction for both its
initial auction and Daily Supply Lot to give purchasers the opportunity to purchase at the price that they feel is
fair.
15 https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/827
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Background
Blockchain technology
Blockchain is a new type of cryptographically-secure record-keeping technology, that has major implications
in the finance sector. It is a distributed and—usually—decentralized ledger accounting for all units in its entire
ecosystem. Public and complete ledgers across the entire network need to sync and agree with one another.
These are called nodes. Nodes prevent “double spending” of the blockchain units and also validate
transactions in blocks on the network.
Blocks are packaged transactional data, the hash of the previous block, a targeted hash, and a number called
a nonce. Where nodes validate these blocks, miners write them to the blockchain by attempting to discover a
nonce that makes a hash of all the data in the block meet its targeted hash. For their efforts and
computational power, they are rewarded with newly-minted units of cryptocurrency.
The “chain” in blockchain refers to the unbroken line of mined blocks that miners write to the decentralized
public ledger. Miners must incorporate the data from previous blocks to successfully discover new blocks,
making a traceable history to the very beginning of the cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that uses cryptographic techniques to regulate the addition of new
currency supply into the market. Often, its new issuance is a reward for successfully discovering blocks in the
above-described mining process. The cryptography also verifies the validity of funds changing hands. Only the
private keys held by the transacting users authorizes the transfer of funds between their wallets. Since these
transactions are visible on the blockchain (see above) and the use of cryptographic keys ensures that the user
intends to send funds and has sufficient funds for a transaction, the need for a third party to transfer and
validate the transfer of funds between accounts is reduced. Encryption techniques replace the roles of
clearinghouses and other intermediaries. Therefore, cryptocurrencies have the potential to provide greater
predictability for monetary supply and issuance over fiat currencies.
Where the fiat currency issuance and supply can be managed extensively by their issuing authorities,
cryptocurrencies can only behave as they are engineered to behave. This is why one can predict the monetary
supply and mintage rate of a cryptocurrency with greater ease than predicting the monetary supply rate of a
fiat currency.
10
Figure 1: Comparison between USD monetary base and the popular cryptocurrency’s, (bitcoin’s) token base
16
Since Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies—both similar and dissimilar—have been created. These
cryptocurrencies collectively make up an active and dynamic market.
Descending price auctions
Currently, most new cryptocurrencies offer their initial disbursements with traditional sales. These sales may
include bonuses, early purchaser pricing, and other incentives to encourage purchasers to buy all of their
supply. While these incentives can help, they do not guarantee a sell-out and can tend toward asymmetrical
public access. This model does not work for a cryptocurrency with longevity as its main goal. The Metronome
team chose to use a different method, aiming to avoid this pattern.
The Metronome team decided to employ a descending price auction as its model for its Initial Supply Auction
and Daily Supply Lots, which may provide interesting opportunities and a fairer distribution of MTN. With a
descending price auction, the price begins at a high initial price. As the auction proceeds, the price is reduced
until all units are sold, or a pre-set price floor is reached, or the auction time limit is reached and the auction
ends. We believe market price discovery is rapid and fair, as each purchaser pays what it thinks is fair at the
time of purchase. Should a purchaser deem a given price too high or unfair, they can wait for the price to
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descend to a level they agree with and purchase then – provided there is supply left.
The Metronome team chose this mechanism in an effort to mitigate against whales from controlling a
disproportionate amount of the MTN supply, grant equal access to auction opportunities, and approach a
fairer distribution of MTN.
16 Sources: coinmarketcap, coinbase, blockchain.info, Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis
17 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3982/TE502/pdf
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Introducing Metronome
Metronome is a new cryptocurrency, engineered for self-governance and longevity, long term-reliability, and
maximum portability. Designed for institution-level endurance, Metronome incorporates lessons learned
from other cryptocurrencies that came before it, and is designed to be used for the next 100 years and
beyond. We believe Metronome is the 1,000 year cryptocurrency.
How Metronome Works
Figure 2: The flow of and interaction between Metronome contracts on the Ethereum blockchain
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Launch
As part of the Metronome team’s goal of providing fairer, more equal access to auction opportunities and
MTN supply, Metronome’s Initial Supply Auction and Daily Supply Lot will utilize a descending price auction
(DPA). This model is different than traditional auctions, and deserves some explanation. In a descending price
auction, the price per token starts at a maximum price. The price slowly decreases until all offered supply is
purchased or until the auction time limit is reached and the auction ends. Metronome employs DPAs in an
effort to establish transparent and predictable pricing.
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The starting price in the Initial Supply Auction will be 2 ETH per MTN. As long as the auction is open and there
are still MTN available for purchase, the price descends by 0.0001984320568 ETH every 60 seconds, toward its
floor price of 0.0000033 ETH.
Purchasers purchase Metronome cryptocurrency in real time and will receive their Metronome almost
immediately after purchase. Metronome purchased during the Initial Supply Auction will not be transferable
until the close of the Initial Supply Auction, while Metronome purchased during the Daily Supply Lots will be
transferable immediately upon receipt.
The Metronome team believes conducting the auction this way provides purchasers with the opportunity to
purchase MTN at the price they see as fair, provided there are MTN available for purchase at that price. The
Metronome team believes that a descending price auction will also provide more accurate market price
discovery than a pure dutch “everyone gets final price” auction, simply because if purchasers are willing to
pay above that price, then the final price is inherently undervalued.
This method also may reduce the chance of whales and other large players in the auction from soaking up
massive amounts of MTN, since purchasing a disproportionately large amount of MTN would potentially be
more expensive than the emergent market price. A pure dutch auction would still disproportionately
distribute MTN to early purchasers.
Although many supply purchase scenarios are possible, one is worth highlighting: a slow trickle followed by a
sudden waterfall. In this scenario, purchasers purchase a small quantity of supply at higher prices. Once the
pricing falls below some threshold, the remaining supply might be consumed rapidly.
Phase 1: Initial Supply Auction
●An initial token supply of 10,000,000 tokens is allocated.
●20% of the initial token supply is retained by founders.
○Minted to special TokenLocker contract (see API section)
■25% available for use by authors at end of Initial Supply Auction.
■The remaining 75% becomes available in 12 equal amounts over 12 calendar quarters
■Only Metronome Authors can withdraw from their TokenLocker contract, and only at
the specific times above
18 Mishra, Debasis, and David C. Parkes. “Multi-Item Vickrey-Dutch Auctions.” Games and Economic Behavior,
vol. 66, no. 1, 2009, pp. 326–347., doi:10.1016/j.geb.2008.04.007.
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●Descending price auction of 8,000,000 tokens (representing the total initial token supply of 10 million
MTN, less the 20% token supply retained by the founders).
●Initial supply auction will last up to 7 days.
●Initial supply auction price is set at 2 ETH per MTN, with a floor price set at 0.0000033 ETH.
●In the initial supply auction, every 60 seconds, MTN auction price decreases by 0.0001984320568 ETH,
linearly.
●The auction continues until the entire 8,000,000 token inventory is sold or until the auction ends after
7 full days (10,080 minutes).
●100% from initial auction proceeds are stored in the Proceeds Contract
Phase 2: Operational currency
●Every 24 hours, new tokens are added to the Daily Supply Lot following the previous auction’s close ad
infinitum, at the rate that is the greater of (i) 2,880 MTN per day, or (ii) an annual rate equal to
2.0000% of the then-outstanding supply per year.
●Every 24 hours, an auction is initiated, lasting no more than 24 hours ( to avoid auction overlap).
○Descending price auction of all tokens in the Daily Supply Lot begins at a maximum price of
twice the previous auction closing price (i.e., the price of the last token sold if the auction sold
out, or the price when the auction timed out).
○In the event that zero (0) Metronome are sold in a given Daily Supply Lot, the price of the
following day’s Daily Supply Lot will begin at 1/100th of the last price at which Metronome was
purchased in a Daily Supply Lot auction.
●Every 60 seconds, auction price decreases to 99% of previous price.
●Auction continues until (i) the entire Daily Supply Lot inventory is sold, or (ii) the end of the
twenty-four hour period of the auction, whichever is earlier.
○If the Daily Supply Lot inventory does not sell out entirely, any remaining MTN will be added to
the next day’s Daily Supply Lot
●The absolute floor price in any Daily Supply Lot auction is 1 Wei
●100% of Daily Supply Lot proceeds goes to the Proceeds Contract.
●Every 24 hours, 0.25% of the total accumulated balance of the Proceeds Contract is sent to the
Autonomous Converter Contract (described below), providing additional options for MTN owners to
sell their MTN, if they so desire.
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Cross-Blockchain Portability
Figure 3: Demonstration of cross-blockchain portability
One of Metronome’s unique features is its cross-chain portability, which will allow users to move their MTN
from one blockchain to another blockchain for any reason. If a user decides to move their MTN, the user must
commit to a target blockchain, the destination that will receive the MTN. The user removes their MTN from
the token supply on source blockchain A, receiving a “proof of exit” merkle receipt. Then user then provides
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this receipt to the Metronome contracts on target blockchain B.
In this scenario, the token supply of MTN on blockchain A is reduced, and the token supply on blockchain B is
increased through this export/import process. The autonomous Daily Supply Lot is adjusted on a pro-rata
basis on both blockchain A and blockchain B, to reflect the new distribution of MTN across blockchains A and
B. For example, if 50% of all MTN exist on the blockchain A and 50% of all MTN exist on blockchain B, then the
daily auctions on chain A shall mint 1,440 tokens/day, and the daily auctions on chain B shall mint 1,440
tokens/day.
Distributed, voluntary consensus governance
The ability to export Metronome from the initial ‘genesis’ chain launched by its authors, and import to
follow-on upgrades released – by its authors or other parties – based on the voluntary consensus of the MTN
holder community provides an opportunity for both immutable contracts, and a fair distributed mechanism
to upgrade those contracts as the market matures.
If, for example, the market demand greatly exceeds supply, and the real-world price of the original MTN rises
beyond what is practical for merchants, some could agree to fork the MTN supply with a new MTN contract
on the same or different chains, by exporting funds they control to the new fork. These dynamics have the
potential to remove risk from a- priori design of the token supply curves, as new immutable MTN contracts
can have upgraded token supply curves for greater commercial use.
Similarly, if market supply starts to exceed demand for a sustained period of time and the price is falling,
holders on different MTN forks may agree to “merge” from multiple export sources to a single import
destination. By reducing the total economically active supply of MTN through this voluntary consensus
mechanism, the token supply is reduced in the event of reduced demand, maintaining stable prices.
19 https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_documentation#Merkle_Trees
15
How forks and movement to new chains impact the MTN token supply curve and issuance is an open
question to the Metronome community. We invite you to participate in defining, implementing, forking, and
merging new MTN target contracts of your own, import MTN to new contracts, and see what happens.
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Cryptocurrency market context to date
To better understand how Metronome fits into the cryptocurrency world, we need to take a high-level look at
the overall landscape.
The landscape
Let’s examine several well-known cryptocurrencies, the token supply allocation, issuance schedule, economic
resilience and mutability resistance of that schedule.
Figure 4: Mintage of popular cryptocurrencies today, note: ETH is a prediction
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Bitcoin (“Bitcoin” or “BTC”) began on Jan 5, 2009, with public equal access to mining and participation in the
ecosystem. New currency supply is added with every block. Block period is targeted at 10 minutes/block
21
every 2,016 blocks. Supply minted is 50 BTC per block, reduced by one-half every four years.
The Bitcoin community ethos places high value on the immutability of Bitcoin’s 21 million currency supply
limit, and the immutability of the issuance schedule. Once that limit is reached, mining for new BTC stops and
transaction fees will, hopefully, provide incentive for miners. It is widely debated within the Bitcoin
community whether transaction fees will suffice to keep Bitcoin funded and secure, when supply issuance
20 Sources: coinmarketcap.com, coinbase, blockchain.info
21 https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
17
declines to these negligible levels. If Bitcoin were restarted from-scratch today, would its current, absolute
22 23
deflationary nature be replaced by an enduring mild inflation feature to incent miners to secure the network
indefinitely into the future? Perhaps. Low levels of inflation are desirable since it discourages hoarding of
resources, encouraging investment and – in cryptocurrencies – continuing to secure the blockchain through
mining.
24
Figure 5: Comparison of Bitcoin and Metronome mintage and circulating supply
25
The predictability and immutability of the issuance schedule is what users rely on today. Predictability gives
market users the ability to plan years, possibly decades into the future. Immutability ensures that the
currency supply will not be subject to the whims and frailties of humans. However, Bitcoin has various groups
interested in influencing network governance, embroiling the community in contentious forks, uncertainty,
and spectacle.
Litecoin (“Litecoin” or “LTC”) is patterned after Bitcoin. Blocks are targeted at 2.5 minutes/block. Supply
26
minted is 50 LTC per block, reduced by one-half every four years. Litecoin is largely a photocopy of Bitcoin,
from a currency issuances perspective: The issuance schedule is presumed immutable by most of the
community. The new supply issuance declines over time, similar to Bitcoin. Litecoin’s governance is similar to
Bitcoin, but has some customary deference to the icons in its ecosystem.
Zcash (“Zcash” or “ZEC”) behaves similarly. Proof-of-work mining is open to all. Block period is targeted at 2.5
minutes per block. Supply minted is 12.5 ZEC per block, reduced by one-half every four years. As a special
case, the first 20,000 blocks have slow-start ramp-up to full 12.5 ZEC emission rate. Instead of a one-time
compensation, the development team and support protocol development receive a 10% Founders’ Reward of
token supply is applied for all blocks up until the first halving, four years from its launch. After that point,
22 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=108964.0
23 Kroll, Joshua A, et al. “The Economics of Bitcoin Mining or, Bitcoin in the Presence of Adversaries.”
http://www.thebitcoin.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Economics-of-Bitcoin-Mining-or-Bitcoin-in-the-Pres
ence-of-Adversaries.pdf
24 https://www.brightscope.com/financial-planning/advice/article/8491/Asked-Answered-Zero-Inflation/
25 Sources: coinmarketcap.com, coinbase, blockchain.info
26 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=47417.0
18
100% of the minted token supply goes to miners. The Zcash Foundation is intended to be the natural locus
27
of voluntary governance of the ecosystem.
28
Figure 6: Comparison between ZEC and MTN author’s retention vs circulating supply
29
The Ethereum (“Ethereum” or “ETH”) pre-sale raised over 60,000,000 ETH, which were pre-mined into the
genesis block. New currency supply – 5 ETH – is added with every block. The new currency supply T+1Y
30 31
increased 19.8%. T+2Y, 21.2%. T+3Y, 17.4%. Supply increase declines from there. The Ethereum currency
issuance schedule is widely communicated to be in flux, and may change as the system evolves. Ethereum is
32
slated to change to proof of stake, which will change its issuance. The issuance is therefore mutable, with
33
the goal of resilience and sustainability. While any changes must be supported by the community and miners,
there is still a lot of customary deference to and reliance upon a small founding team.
Ripple (“Ripple” or “XRP”) has an available supply of 38 billion XRP. The managing company, Ripple, Inc., has a
34
further 61 billion XRP, of which Ripple Inc has placed 55 billion XRP in escrow. This is centrally managed, with
35
Ripple, Inc. controlling a large portion of the cryptocurrency’s ecosystem. Ripple Inc. directly manages the
issuance of supply into the market, and XRP is therefore highly mutable. Ripple Inc retains disproportionate
governing power.
Metronome takes the lessons learned from these digital currencies and the result is a cryptocurrency
designed for institutional-level endurance with issuance, governance, and reliability as the leading principles
in its architecture. It is 100% autonomous with no undue influence from authors to further the design goal of
self-governance. Metronome is predictable and mints new MTN at a predictable rate, which makes it stable. It
27 https://z.cash/blog/founders-reward-transfers.html
28 https://z.cash/blog/funding.html
29 https://z.cash/blog/founders-reward-transfers.html
30 https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper
31 https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/08/08/ether-sale-a-statistical-overview/
32 https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/879675471532654595
33 https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/Proof-of-Stake-FAQ
34 https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ripple/
35
https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-to-place-55-billion-xrp-in-escrow-to-ensure-certainty-into-total-xrp-supply/
19
is also able to be imported and exported between blockchains for whatever reason the user sees fit, making it
portable.
BTC
36
LTC
37
ETH
38
XRP
39
ZEC
40
MTN
Reliability
BTC is
famous for
its
contentious
forks and
deflationary
nature.
Token
supply and
issuance is
stable, but
finite.
Like BTC,
LTC’s
issuance and
token supply
is subject to
a hard cap,
which may
threaten
chain
stability
ETH’s
issuance
and token
supply
model is in
flux. It has
forked in the
past.
XRP has a
stable
supply. It is
fully
governed by
Ripple Inc.
Similar to
BTC, ZEC is
subject to a
hard cap
which may
call into
question the
security of
the chain in
the future.
MTN issuance
and supply will
remain
predictable ad
infinitum as
defined by its
contracts. There
is no uncertainty
about supply or
issuance.
Self-
Governance
BTC is self
governed,
but has
many
groups
looking to
exert undue
influence.
LTC is self
governed,
but
customary
deference to
its icons.
Changes to
ETH need
community
support, but
much
reliance
upon a small
team.
XRP is not
self
governing.
Ripple Inc
retains sole
power of
governance
over XRP.
The Zcash
Foundation is
natural locus
of voluntary
governance.
MTN is entirely
self governed
through
autonomous
contracts.
Portability
no
no
no
no
no
yes
Immutability
strong
strong
Mutable;
Will change
with PoS
weak
strong
strong
Issuance
Model
50 BTC per
10 minutes.
Decreases
by ½ every 4
years.
50 LTC per
2.5 minutes.
Decreases
by ½ every 4
years.
5 ETH per 15
seconds.
Issued once,
by Ripple Inc
12.5 per 2.5
minutes.
Decreases by
½ every 4
years.
Daily MTN
auction sales at
greater of (i)
2,880 MTN per
day, or (ii) an
annual rate
equal to 2.0000%
of the
then-outstanding
supply per year
Supply limit
21 million
84 million
unknown
100 billion
21 million
See Issuance
Model above
Settlement
time
10 minutes
2.5 minutes
15 seconds
5 seconds
2.5 minutes
15 seconds
36 https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
37 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=47417.0
38 https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper
39
https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-to-place-55-billion-xrp-in-escrow-to-ensure-certainty-into-total-xrp-supply/
40 http://zerocash-project.org/media/pdf/zerocash-extended-20140518.pdf
20
Mass Pay
feature
yes
yes
no
no
yes
yes
Subscription
feature
no
no
no
no
no
yes
Table 1: Comparison of important attributes between today’s cryptocurrencies
21
Metronome contracts and technical aspects
Four autonomous smart contracts comprise Metronome. The general flow is:
1. The first contract is the MTN token and ledger, interacting directly with the blockchain. This is how
users settle peer-to- peer transactions, and it can be used as a distributed store of wealth. This is the
familiar ERC20 token standard with ERC827 functionality for improved security and transfer.
2. The token contract is followed by the Auctions contract. A user purchases MTN through the Auctions
contract. When a user makes a purchase from the Auctions contract, the contract mints the MTN for
the user.
3. The Auctions contract then sends the proceeds to the third contract, the Proceeds Contract. 100% of
the proceeds from the Initial Supply Auction and each Daily Supply Lot are sent from the Auctions
contract to the Proceeds contract.
4. Every 24 hours, the Proceeds Contract sends 0.25% of its contents to the fourth contract – the
Autonomous Converter Contract – providing it with available ETH. When a user sends ETH or MTN to
the Autonomous Converter Contract, the contract returns MTN or ETH, respectively at the rate
determined by the contract. Since the ratio of tokens in the Autonomous Converter Contract
determines their relative value, we expect arbitrage to keep pricing approximately accurate. If the
contract has too few MTN (or ETH), that makes it expensive compared to its corresponding pair. A
user who believes his or her MTN (or ETH) are not worth that much will tender his or her tokens in
exchange for the other token. This can balance the contract’s contents, correcting the relative price
imbalance.
Metronome Proceeds and Autonomous Converter Contracts
All proceeds from all auctions stay in the Metronome ecosystem, with the intent to build an enduring
ecosystem for Metronome and its users. By ensuring all proceeds from the auctions stay on-chain in
contracts — and outside of the control of any group — we believe Metronome may enjoy greater and more
autonomous longevity.
This flow starts with the Auctions contract, which is the contract purchasers interact with when purchasing
MTN from an auction. Then, the Proceeds Contract receives the proceeds from the Auctions contract and
exports a portion to the Autonomous Converter Contract, providing the Autonomous Converter Contract with
ETH supply for purchase and sale. One MTN will be in the Autonomous Converter Contract at the time it is
initialized.
In the Initial Supply Auction and every subsequent Daily Supply Lot, 100% of the proceeds will go to the
Proceeds Contract. None of the proceeds are ever distributed to Metronome authors. Each day, the Proceeds
Contract will forward 0.25% of its total accumulated proceeds to the Autonomous Converter Contract. It is our
expectation that this may smooth out the variance in daily auction volume, compared to just placing receipts
in the Autonomous Converter Contract directly.
When selling ETH to the Autonomous Converter Contract, the amount of MTN obtainable for a particular
amount of ETH in the contract rises. If someone sells MTN to buy ETH, they will get more ETH back, and if
someone wants to use the Autonomous Converter Contract to buy MTN, they will have to pay more ETH for it.
To the extent that the daily ETH selling in the Autonomous Converter Contract raises MTN value above what
22
the market can support, we believe that arbitrage will capture the excess ETH. However, given that the
predictability of Metronome is measured in decades-long timescales, we also expect the market to predict
and price in the flow of ETH availability into the Autonomous Converter Contract.
Figure 7: The user’s experience interacting with the Autonomous Converter Contract and the Autonomous
Converter Contract’s back-end process
Economic prediction
While the Autonomous Converter Contract seeks to approach a market-determined price, the auction
contract has a fixed pricing schedule each day. Consequently:
●When an auction’s token price is higher than the Autonomous Converter Contract’s, purchasers would
be expected to be less likely to purchase tokens from the auction. They would be better off buying the
cheaper tokens from the Autonomous Converter Contract.
●When the auction’s token price is lower than the Autonomous Converter Contract’s, anyone can make
arbitrage profits by buying at auction and selling the tokens to the Autonomous Converter Contract.
This would arbitrage out any ETH imbalance in the Autonomous Converter Contract. However, since
everyone wants to do this, the auction would be expected to sell out before the price discrepancy
becomes significant.
In sum, purchasers in an auction would be expected to attempt to purchase tokens at auction at a price very
close to the current price in the Autonomous Converter Contract, and each day’s later purchasers will be able
to profit from its earlier purchasers, essentially getting paid for the risk that they will not be able to buy at all
in the auction.
Once a Daily Supply Lotsells out, excess demand could be met by selling to the Autonomous Converter
23
Contract, possibly increasing the token price. We expect that each auction would sell out, because the
descending price will eventually decay below market price.
The math
When the user transacts with the Autonomous Converter Contract, there is always price slippage, since users
are throwing off the ratio between token supplies. Formulas determine all the prices, such that whether the
user makes lots of tiny purchases or one big purchase, everything comes out the same.
41
There are two formulas: one calculates how many smart tokens a user gets for MTN or ETH, the other
determines how much MTN or ETH a user gets for smart tokens. Smart tokens are never exposed to the user.
Building accurate and efficient “elementary functions” is a serious engineering task. New implementations are
necessary since Ethereum has only 256-bit integers.
By restricting the Autonomous Converter Contract to two cryptocurrencies – MTN and ETH – at reserve ratio
0.5, the math is simplified and only a square root is needed, which is simple to implement and reasonably
efficient to run.
The math is as follows:
R = Reserve Token Balance
S = Smart Token Supply
F = Constant Reserve Ratio
T = Smart tokens received in exchange for reserve tokens E
E = Reserve tokens received in exchange for smart tokens T
The original formulas are:
42
T = S((1 + ) )
R
E F− 1
E = R(1 - (1 - ) )
S
T 1
F
In our case, because F is set to 0.5, the formula can make do with fixed-point multiplication, division, and
square root:
T = S( ) - 1)
√1 + R
E
E = R(1 - (1 - ) )
S
T 2
A worked example
Let’s say the Autonomous Converter Contract has 1000 ETH and 2000 MTN, and there are 10000 smart
tokens. The Autonomous Converter Contract’s price for MTN is 0.50 ETH. A user believes this is on the high
side and wishes to trade 100 MTN for ETH. At the current nominal price this would return 50 ETH, but actually
41 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3HPNP-GDn7aRkVaV3dkVl9NS2M/view
42 https://www.bancor.network/static/bancor_protocol_whitepaper_en.pdf
24
the user will get less due to price slippage.
Step one: Trade 100 MTN for smart tokens.
T = S( ) - 1)
√1 + R
E
T = 10000( ) - 1) = 10000( - 1) = 10000(1.0247 - 1) = 10000(0.0247) = 247
√1 + 100
2000 √1.05
The user receives 247 newly-minted smart tokens. The total supply of smart tokens is now 10247. The total
supply of MTN held in the Autonomous Converter Contract is now 2100.
Step two: Convert 247 smart tokens for ETH, this is fulfilled automatically by the contract, the user is never
exposed to the smart tokens.
Assume that 1000 ETH so is the reserve supply for the formula:
E = R(1 - (1 - ) )
S
T 2
E= 1000(1 - (1 - ) ) = 1000(1 - (1 - 0.0241) ) = 1000(1 - .976 ) = 1000(1 - 0.953) = 1000(0.047) = 247
10247 2 2 2
47
The user receives 47 ETH for their 100 MTN.
The contract now contains 953 ETH and 2100 MTN, or 0.45 ETH per MTN. By selling some MTN, the user has
lowered the price of MTN in the Autonomous Converter Contract compared to ETH. He or she receives ETH
approximately midway between the initial price and final price.
The 247 smart tokens are destroyed when they are traded in, lowering the smart token supply back to 10000.
Transaction ordering mitigation
The user can predict the outcome of his or her trade, provided no other transactions are executed ahead of
the user’s. There is no way to guarantee this; in fact, other parties could see his or her transaction in transit,
and issue their own transaction ordering. Miners in particular could do this very effectively.
To mitigate against transaction ordering, we require the user to specify a minimum return. If he or she does
not get at least that much back from their trade, his or her transaction rolls back; he or she pays only a small
transaction fee to cover the computational cost of executing the transaction.
25
Token Supply Economics
Theory
●Predictability of supply enables market participants to accurately gauge supply 12 months, 5 years, 50
years into the future
●Pricing is determined via descending price auction
Supply
●Initial supply: 10,000,000 tokens, via descending price auction
●Supply after initial supply: an annual supply that is the greater of (i) 2,880 MTN per day, or (ii) 2.0000%
of the then-outstanding supply per year
●Auction settles in near-real-time
○Some economists suggest this discovers the best price for the auction, since everyone pays
their price limit
43
Supply schedule
Time
Circulating MTN
Mintage Rate
Daily Mintage
T + 1 year
11,051,200
10.512%
2,880
T + 2 years
12,102,400
9.512%
2,880
T + 3 years
13,153,600
8.686%
2,880
T + 5 years
15,258,880
7.399%
2,880
T + 10 years
20,517,760
5.400%
2,880
T + 50 years
63,499,700
2.000%
3,411
T + 70 years
94,382,561
2.000%
5,070
Table 2: Supply Schedule
43 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3982/TE502/pdf
26
API Reference
Metronome Core
Token API
The token API used to query and transfer MTN tokens is the familiar ERC20 token standard. Metronome also
44
aligns itself with the current best practice of using ERC827. ERC827 is the newer superset of ERC20, and is the
45
latest standard with enhanced decentralized transfer and security. The improvement also makes it easy for
the transfer to call any function on the receiving contract. ERC827 allows for data to be transferred as well as
value, something that the ERC20 token standard cannot do alone. Metronome is proud to use the most
cutting-edge technology available.
Standard ERC20
const name
Metronome
const symbol
MTN
const decimals
18
function totalSupply
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
function balanceOf
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
function transfer
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
function transferFrom
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
function approve
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
function allowance
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
event Transfer
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
event Approval
ERC20-compliant; refer to ERC20 standard.
Custom ERC827-related functions
function approveMore(address _spender, uint256 _value)
public returns (bool)
function approveLess(address _spender, uint256 _value)
public returns (bool)
These are safer versions of approve. They are not
standard, but can be used by users who want to
avoid the chance of a well-known race attack against
the standard version when updating values.
44 https://theethereum.wiki/w/index.php/ERC20_Token_Standard
45 https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/827
27
function transfer(address _to, uint256 _value, bytes _data)
public returns (bool);
Extension of ERC20, which accepts extra data for
function call.
function transferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint256
_value, bytes _data) public returns (bool);
Extension of ERC20, which accepts extra data for
function call.
function approve(address _spender, uint256 _value, bytes
_data) public returns (bool);
Extension of ERC20, which accepts extra data for
function call.
event Transfer(address indexed _from, address indexed _to,
uint256 _value, bytes _data);
Extension of ERC20, which accepts extra data for
event call.
event Approval(address indexed _owner, address indexed
_spender, uint256 _value, bytes _data);
Extension of ERC20, which accepts extra data for
event call.
Custom Token Function
Function multiTransfer(uint[] bits) Allows multiple
Transfers in a single transaction.
Each uint in the bits array represents a transfer; the
leftmost 160 bits are the address, and 96 bits to the
right are the amount.
function setTokenPorter(address _tokenPorter) public
onlyOwner returns (bool)
Sets contract for TokenPorter, responsible for
export
features, this can only be run by owner
function mint(address _to, uint _value) public returns (bool)
Mint will only be allowed by minter and tokenporter
function destroy(address _from, uint _value) public returns
(bool)
Destroy will only be allowed by minter and
tokenporter
function enableMTNTransfers() public returns (bool)
This function will enable MTN transfer and it can be
called successfully only after initial auction end.
function export(bytes8 _destChain, address
_destMetronomeAddr, address _destRecipAddr, uint
_amount, bytes _extraData) public returns (bool)
Export MTN to another metronome supported
chain.
Merkles
These functions are not intended for manual use, but there is some thought that they could be the
foundation for interesting UI features.
Function setRoot(bytes32 root)
Sets the merkle root associated with msg.sender
28
Function rootsMatch(address a, address b) constant returns
(bool)
Returns true if the two addresses have matching
roots.
function getRoot(address addr) public view returns (bytes32)
Gets the merkle root associated with the address
Subscriptions
These functions are part of a unique Metronome feature: subscriptions on the blockchain. Users are able to
facilitate relationships and recurring payments between other users and institutions via subscriptions. The
user subscribes by authorizing them to withdraw a weekly payment. The authorized group or individual then
is able to move the payment from the user’s account to any account they see fit. The user is able to cancel
subscriptions if and when necessary.
This addresses an issue that other cryptocurrencies have struggled with in the past. Paying for subscription
based material is either not possible or onerous with many popular cryptocurrencies. The Metronome
subscription feature fixes that.
function subscribe(uint _startTime, uint _payPerWeek,
address _recipient) public returns (bool)
Subscribe to someone, i.e. authorize them to
withdraw weekly payment
_startTime is when the subscription will start
_payPerWeek is the tokens payable per week
including decimals _recipient is who gets to
withdraw the tokens
function cancelSubscription(address _recipient) public
returns (bool)
Cancel the subscription
_recipient is who are you unsubscribing from
function getSubscription(address _owner, address
_recipient) public constant returns (uint startTime, uint
payPerWeek, uint lastWithdrawTime)
Get subscription info
_owner pays, _recipient is receiver of subscription
Return the following information,
startTime is when the subscription started
payPerWeek is how much can recipient withdraw
each week
lastWithdrawTime is when the recipient
last withdrew
function subWithdraw(address _owner) public transferable
returns (bool)
Withdraw funds from someone who has subscribed
to you, returns success
_owner is your subscriber
function multiSubWithdraw(address[] _owners) public
returns (uint)
Withdraw funds from a bunch of subscribers
(_owners) at once. Returns number of successful
withdraw.
29
function multiSubWithdrawFor(address[] _owners, address[]
_recipients) public returns (uint)
Withdraw funds from given subscribers(_owners) to
their respective _recipients. Returns number of
successful withdraw.
event LogSubscription(address indexed subscriber, address
indexed subscribesTo)
Emitted for new user subscriptions
event LogCancelSubscription(address indexed subscriber,
address indexed subscribesTo)
Emitted when user cancels subscription
Auction API
Function () payable
Standard fallback function; send ETH, receive MTN
tokens immediately
function whatWouldPurchaseDo(uint _wei, uint
_timestamp) public constant returns (uint weiPerToken, uint
tokens, uint refund)
Tells the user what the results would be, of a
purchase at time _timestamp
_wei is the amount of ETH in wei to be sent,
_timestamp is the timestamp of the prospective
auction purchase.
weiPerToken is the resulting price,
tokens are the number of tokens that would be
returned,
refund is the ETH in wei refund the user would get
(if auction sold out in this purchase)
function isRunning() public constant returns (bool)
True if auction system has started
function currentTick() public view returns(uint)
Calls whichTick for current block timestamp
function currentAuction() public view returns(uint)
Calls whichAuction(currentTick())
function whichTick(uint t) public view returns(uint)
Returns the auction tick for given timestamp, t,
since genesis time
function whichAuction(uint t) public view returns(uint)
Returns the auction instance for given auction tick, t
function heartbeat() public view returns (bytes8
chain,address auctionAddr,address convertAddr,address
tokenAddr,uint minting,uint totalMTN,uint proceedsBal,uint
currTick, uint currAuction,uint nextAuctionGMT,uint
genesisGMT,uint currentAuctionPrice,uint
dailyMintable,uint _lastPurchasePrice)
Returns statistics on the current auction
30
function mintInitialSupply(uint[] _founders, address _token,
address _proceeds, address _autonomousConverter) public
onlyOwner returns (bool)
Called during initial deployment to mint the initial
supply for founders. This is an owner-only function.
function initAuctions(uint _startTime, uint _minimumPrice,
uint _startingPrice, uint _timeScale) public onlyOwner
returns (bool)
Called during initial deployment sets the auction
start time parameters. This is an owner-only
function.
function stopEverything() public onlyOwner
Owner only function that pauses the current
auction.
function isInitialAuctionEnded() public view returns (bool)
True, if 7 days have passed or all tokens have been
sold in initial auction
function globalMtnSupply() public view returns (uint)
Total available supply as of the current auction
function globalDailySupply() public view returns (uint)
Total available MTN Token for current daily auction
function currentPrice() public constant returns (uint
weiPerToken)
Current price in daily auction
event LogAuctionFundsIn(uint amount)
Emitted when funds are received by Auctions
contract
Metronome Proceeds Contract
Proceeds Contract API
event LogProceedsIn(address indexed from, uint value)
Emitted when funds are received by Proceeds
contract
event LogClosedAuction(address indexed from, uint value)
Emitted when Proceeds pushes funds into
AutonomousConverter
function () public payable
Handles incoming funds for Proceeds
function initProceeds(address _autonomousConverter,
address _auction) public onlyOwner
Called during initial deployment. This is an
owner-only function.
function closeAuction() public
Sends funds to AutonomousConverter at the end of
the auction
31
Metronome Autonomous Converter Contract
Autonomous Converter Contract API
function () public payable
Handles incoming funds for AutonomousConverter
function init(address _reserveToken, address _smartToken,
address _proceeds, address _auctions) public payable
Called during initial deployment. This is an
owner-only function.
function getMtnBalance() public view returns (uint)
Shows MTN balance in contract
function getEthBalance() public view returns (uint)
Shows ETH balance in contract
function convertEthToMtn(uint _mintReturn) public payable
returns (uint returnedMtn)
Change ETH to MTN. Throw if the returned MTN
would be less than minReturn. Return the amount
of
MTN.
function convertMtnToEth(uint _amount, uint _mintReturn)
public returns (uint returnedEth)
Change MTN to ETH. Throw if the returned ETH
would be less than minReturn. Return the amount
of ETH. Caller will first need to Approve AC to make
a
transfer.
function getMtnForEthResult(uint _depositAmount) public
view returns (uint256)
Return how much MTN the user would get for the
given _depositAmount which is in ETH.
function getEthForMtnResult(uint _depositAmount) public
view returns (uint256)
Return how much ETH the user would get for the
given _depositAmount which is in MTN
event LogFundsIn(address indexed from, uint value)
Emitted when AutonomousConvert receives Funds
event ConvertEthToMtn(address indexed from, uint eth, uint
met)
Emitted when conversion from ETH to MTN
happens.
event ConvertMtnToEth(address indexed from, uint eth, uint
met)
Emitted when conversion from MTN to ETH
happens.
32
TokenLocker
TokenLocker API
event Withdrawn(address indexed who, uint amount)
Emitted for all withdraws
event Deposited(address indexed who, uint amount)
Emitted for all deposits
function lockTokenLocker() public onlyAuction
Lock the tokenLocker. Calling this function will
results in postLock phase of tokenLocker. No more
deposits are allowed. Token withdraw is allowed
during this phase. This is Auction only function.
function deposit (address beneficiary, uint amount) public
onlyAuction preLock
Deposit the fund in locker. Depositing funds are
only allowed during preLock phase.
function withdraw() public onlyOwner postLock
Withdraw funds are only allowed during postLock
phase. This is owner only function.
TokenPorter
TokenPorter API
event ExportReceiptLog(bytes8 destinationChain, address
indexed destinationMetronomeAddr, address indexed
destinationRecipientAddr, uint amountToBurn, bytes
extraData, uint currentTick, uint indexed burnSequence,
bytes32 currentBurnHash, bytes32 prevBurnHash, uint
dailyMintable, uint[] supplyOnAllChains, uint genesisTime)
Emitted during export requests
function addDestinationChain(bytes8 _chainName, address
_contractAddress) public onlyOwner returns (bool)
Add chain as approved chain for metronome export.
This is owner only function.
function removeDestinationChain(bytes8 _chainName)
public onlyOwner returns (bool)
Remove chain from approved chain for metronome
export. This is owner only function.
function claimReceivables(address[] recipients) public
returns (uint)
This function will be called by destination contract
who is performing import of metronome to record
metronome mint in destination contract.
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function export(bytes8 _destChain, address
_destMetronomeAddr, address _destRecipAddr, uint
_amount, bytes _extraData) public returns (bool)
Exports users account to be imported into another
chain
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Glossary of Contract Terms
●Autonomous Converter Contract The smart contract, allowing people to trade MTN with ETH or ETH
to MTN.
●Autonomous Proceeds Provider The Metronome Proceeds Contract and Autonomous Converter
Contract.
●Constants Holds a few common constants like DECIMALS.
●Daily Supply Lot The descending price auction that adds newly minted MTN into the ecosystem daily.
●EVM Stands for Ethereum Virtual Machine.
46
●Fixed_Math Implements fixed-point arithmetic, including add, subtract, multiply, divide, square,
square root. Will include overflow protections. For binary functions it assumes that both inputs have
the same number of decimal places.
●Formula Implements the core Bancor-style formula, using the fixed math functions. Formula is
stateless, all the variables are passed in as parameters.
●Metronome The main auctions contract.
●Migrations Part of Truffle’s migrations capability.
●ReserveToken Implements MTN. Gives the Autonomous Converter Contract the right to move tokens
around (in response to trading events).
●Proceeds Contract Accepts ETH from Metronome, forwards 0.25% of its balance to the Autonomous
Converter Contract every 24 hours.
●Smart Token The token issued by Autonomous Converter Contract that acts as an intermediary
when changing between MTN and ETH (and vice versa) via the Autonomous Converter Contract. This
process is automated and is not exposed to the user.
●Token The MTN token purchased by purchasers.
46 http://ethdocs.org/en/latest/introduction/what-is-ethereum.html
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APPENDIX A
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND DISCLAIMERS
BY PURCHASING, OWNING, AND/OR USING METRONOME TOKENS YOU EXPRESSLY
ACKNOWLEDGE AND ASSUME THE FOLLOWING RISKS.
1. Purchaser Acknowledgments. As a purchaser (“Purchaser” or “you”) of Metronome
tokens (“MTN”), you acknowledge as follows:
(a) MTN are not structured or sold as securities or any other form of investment
product. MTN have not been registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or under any State securities act, or under any similar laws
in any other jurisdiction, nor do they function in reliance upon exemptions under those laws.
Accordingly, none of the information presented in the Owner’s Manual is intended to form the basis for
any investment decision, and no specific recommendations are intended. The use, sale, or other
disposition of MTN is restricted as stated in the Owner’s Manual. By acquiring MTN, Purchaser
represents that it will comply with all requirements of the Owner’s Manual and any laws promulgated by
any jurisdiction including U.S. federal, state, or local laws. The creators of MTN expressly disclaim any
and all responsibility for any direct or consequential loss or damage of any kind whatsoever arising
directly or indirectly from: (i) reliance on any information contained in the Owner’s Manual or any other
documentation, (ii) any error, omission or inaccuracy in any such information, or (iii) any action resulting
from such information;
(b) This document has not been registered and will not be registered as a prospectus
with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and is not a prospectus as defined in the Securities and Futures
Act (Cap. 289 of Singapore) (the “SFA”). Accordingly, statutory liability under the SFA in relation to the
content of prospectuses would not apply;
(c) You will not use MTN or Metronome to create a product regulated by the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, including creating futures contracts, swaps, or retail
commodity transactions. You also acknowledge that the purchase of MTN is not intended to be, and is
not marketed as, any form of option or swap transaction;
(d) You understand the technical and business matters relating to cryptographic tokens,
token storage mechanisms (such as token wallets), and blockchain technology to understand MTN and to
appreciate the risks and implications of using, purchasing and/or disposing of MTN;
(e) You have obtained sufficient information about MTN to make an informed
decision to purchase MTN and are not relying on any information other than that provided in the Owner’s
Manual in making the decision to purchase MTN;
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(f) You understand that MTN confers only the right to use MTN as contemplated in
the Owner’s Manual. MTN confers no other rights of any form, including, but not limited to, any entity
ownership, distribution, redemption, liquidation, proprietary (including any form of intellectual property),
or financial or legal rights;
(g) You are purchasing MTN solely for the purpose of using MTN as contemplated in
the Owner’s Manual, being aware of the commercial risks associated with MTN. You are not purchasing
MTN for any other purposes, including, but not limited to, any investment, speculative, or financial
purpose;
(h) Your purchase of MTN complies with applicable laws and regulations in your
jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, (i) legal capacity and any requirement or restriction on the
purchase of MTN, (ii) any foreign exchange or regulatory restrictions applicable to such purchase, and
(iii) any governmental or other consents that may need to be obtained;
(i) You are solely responsible for any applicable tax obligations arising from your
purchase or use of MTN;
(j) If you are purchasing MTN on behalf of an entity, you are authorized to agree to
these Acknowledgments and Disclaimers on such entity’s behalf;
(k) You are not (i) a citizen or resident of a geographic area in which the acceptance of
delivery of MTN is prohibited by applicable law, decree, regulation, treaty, or administrative act, (ii) a
citizen or resident of, or located in, a geographic area that is subject to U.S. or other sovereign country
sanctions or embargoes, or (iii) an individual, or an individual employed by or associated with an entity,
identified on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Denied Persons or Entity List, the U.S. Department of
Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals or Blocked Persons Lists, the U.S. Department of State’s
Debarred Parties List, any similar restricted persons regulation or list of any other applicable sovereign
country, or any successor regulations or restrictions to any of the foregoing. You agree that if your
country of residence or other circumstances change such that the above acknowledgments are no longer
accurate, you will immediately cease using MTN;
(l) The value of MTN will depend on whether it is accepted as a cryptocurrency and
the extent it is utilized for the payment of goods and services. Inadequate demand may make it difficult to
utilize MTN for the payment of goods and services, which would tend to diminish the value of MTN.
Likewise, if MTN is not adopted generally the value could also diminish. Moreover, in the near term
there remains a substantial regulatory risk related to oversight of cryptocurrencies and token sales that
could significantly reduce the value of MTN;
(m) The value of MTN should depend primarily on the prevailing value of using MTN
as a cryptocurrency for the payment of goods and services;
(n) The price of MTN should fluctuate in response to competitive and market
conditions affecting the general supply of and demand for MTN as a cryptocurrency. These conditions
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are beyond the control of any particular party or of MTN holders. The value of MTN when it is used or
exchanged may be lower than the price at which it was purchased;
(o) The release of new MTN on a regular automated and independent basis is intended
to help stabilize the price of MTN around its intrinsic value for services in the Metronome ecosystem, but
there can be no assurance that such release of MTN will succeed in doing so. The Metronome authors do
not intend to take any actions to support or limit the price of MTN, and may purchase and sell MTN for
their own account at any price;
(p) The sale of MTN does not limit in any respect the power of any Metronome author
to participate in other projects, operate other networks or issue other tokens that may compete with MTN;
(q) No promises of future performance or value are or will be made with respect to
MTN, including no promise of inherent value, no promise of continuing payments, and no guarantee that
MTN will hold any particular value; and
(r) There are no conditions as to how the Metronome authors may use proceeds from
the sale of their own MTN.
2. Acknowledgment of Certain Risks. You acknowledge that the following risks exist with
respect to MTN and agree that you are expressly assuming these risks:
(a) Autonomous Nature of MTN
. MTN operates autonomously, without any ability of
any party to influence or control the operation of MTN. The autonomous nature of MTN may create risks
in the future, including risks that were not foreseeable at the time of launch of MTN or your purchase.
(b) Risk of Losing Access to MTN Due to Loss of Private Key(s), Custodial Error or
Purchaser Error.
A private key, or a combination of private keys, is necessary to control and dispose of
MTN stored in your digital wallet or vault. Accordingly, loss of requisite private key(s) associated with
the digital wallet or vault storing MTN will result in loss of such MTN. Moreover, any third party that
gains access to such private key(s), including by gaining access to login credentials of a hosted wallet
service you use, may be able to misappropriate MTN. Any errors or malfunctions caused by or otherwise
related to the digital wallet or vault you choose to receive and store MTN, including your own failure to
properly maintain or use such digital wallet or vault, may also result in the loss of MTN. Additionally,
your failure to follow precisely the procedures set forth for buying and receiving MTN, including, for
instance, if you provide the wrong address, may result in the loss of MTN.
(c) Risks Associated with the Blockchain Protocols.
Any malfunction, breakdown or
abandonment of the blockchain protocols on which MTN operates may have a material adverse effect on
MTN. Moreover, advances in cryptography, or technical advances, could present risks to MTN, by
rendering ineffective the cryptographic consensus mechanism that underpins the blockchain protocols.
(d) Risk of Mining Attacks.
MTN is susceptible to attacks by miners in the course of
validating MTN transactions on the blockchain, including, but not limited, to double-spend attacks,
majority mining power attacks, selective delay or censorship of transactions, and selfish-mining attacks.
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Any successful attacks present a risk to MTN, including, but not limited to, accurate execution and
recording of transactions involving MTN.
(e) Risk of Hacking and Security Weaknesses.
Hackers or other malicious groups or
organizations may attempt to interfere with MTN in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to,
malware attacks, denial of service attacks, consensus-based attacks, Sybil attacks, smurfing and spoofing.
Furthermore, because MTN is based on open-source software, there is a risk that a third party may
intentionally or unintentionally introduce weaknesses into the core infrastructure of a new MTN
implementation, which could negatively affect MTN. Hackers or other malicious groups or organizations
may also attempt to get access to private keys or other access credentials in a wallet, vault, or other
storage mechanism used to receive and hold MTN.
(f) Risks Associated with Markets for MTN.
If secondary trading of MTN is
facilitated by third party exchanges, such exchanges may be relatively new and subject to little or no
regulatory oversight, making them more susceptible to fraud or manipulation. Furthermore, to the extent
that third-parties do ascribe an external exchange value to MTN (e.g., as denominated in a digital or fiat
currency), such value may be extremely volatile and diminish to zero.
(g) Risk of Uninsured Losses.
Unlike certain bank accounts or accounts at some other
financial institutions, MTN is uninsured. Thus, in the event of loss or loss of utility value, there is no
public insurer or private insurance to offer you recourse.
(h) Risks Associated with Uncertain Regulations and Enforcement Actions.
The
regulatory status of MTN and distributed ledger technology is unclear or unsettled in many jurisdictions.
It is difficult to predict how or whether regulatory agencies may apply existing regulation with respect to
such technology and its applications, including MTN. It is likewise difficult to predict how or whether
legislatures or regulatory agencies may implement changes to law and regulation affecting distributed
ledger technology and its applications, including MTN. Regulatory actions could negatively impact MTN
in various ways, including, for purposes of illustration only, through a determination that the purchase,
sale and delivery of MTN constitutes unlawful activity or that MTN is a regulated instrument that requires
registration or licensing of those instruments or some or all of the parties involved in the purchase, sale
and delivery thereof.
(i) Risks Arising from Taxation.
The tax characterization of MTN is uncertain and
may result in adverse tax consequences, including withholding taxes, income taxes and tax reporting
requirements. You must seek your own tax advice in connection with MTN.
(j) Technology Risks.
MTN represents a new capability on emerging technology that
is not fully proven in use. As the technology matures, new capabilities may dramatically alter the
usefulness of MTN or the ability to use or sell them.
(k) Unanticipated Risks.
In addition to the risks included in this Appendix, there are
other risks associated with the purchase, possession, and use of MTN, including unanticipated risks. Such
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risks may further materialize as unanticipated variations or combinations of the risks discussed in this
Appendix.
1. DISCLAIMER. EACH MTN IS SOLD ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”
BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND FROM ANY PARTY, INCLUDING, WITHOUT
LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.
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